Even if I Killed You, I Love You, I Love You
by NebulaWrites
Summary: After all the many fights he'd been in, never in the expanse of his life would he have thought that this particular fight would be his last one. Nor would he have guessed that his soulmate would be a child filled with such hopes and light. Especially in contrast to his darkness.
1. Chapter 1

_Second of the Soulmate Drabbles. There's a total of eight finished, and there's several that are work in progresses. I hope you all enjoy~! As stated on the last one, this is cross posted on my Ao3._

* * *

After all the many fights he'd been in, never in the expanse of his life would he have thought that this particular fight would be his last one. Nor would he have guessed that his soulmate would be a child filled with such hopes and light. Especially in contrast to his darkness.

The sword ripped through his shirt, skin, muscle and even bone like it were paper; and it leaves Orochimaru gasping in agony. All the blows that should have been fatal to him before that moment had never hurt as much as this particular wound did. Body instantly losing all strength, he falls forward into the startled form of his opponent as he grabs at the sword handle.

"Of all things… with my own sword…" he managed to croak, his mouth and throat already as dry as the deserts in the Land of Wind. Naruto fumbled, either struggling to find a way to support the Sannin or push him off. "Stop with the act- I've seen you take worse wounds from Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke!" the blond snaps, finally finding a position to hold Orochimaru without risking cutting himself with Kusanagi. "…While that may be true… neither of them were important enough to actually _kill_ me."

The Uzumaki stiffens in horror before carefully laying the Sannin down, kneeling on the ground and supporting the older's upper body in his arms. "I can't be! You can't be! _We_ -!" "Are." Orochimaru finished in equal parts aggravation, surprise, amusement and fear. Naruto opened his mouth to speak again before he closes it quickly, his eyes huge and staring down at the dying snake in… Was that regret Orochimaru saw in his eyes? The pale man smirked briefly, the faint show of amusement disappearing in an instant when the edges of his vision began to blur and darken.

"If I had _known_ I would never have gone for an attack like that. I'm _sorry_." The younger croaks, his hand carefully pulling Kusanagi from Orochimaru's chest to eliminate any chances of pain coming from the blade being retracted. The Sannin made a noise of what was most likely agreement, his head turning to the side to rest against Naruto's shoulder. "I always liked the name Naruto… It was my father's. Jiraiya asked if he could use it in his books, I'm glad he did." He confessed, literally hearing the jump in the blond's heartbeat and the way he swallows thickly.

Gently calloused fingers brush stray hairs from Orochimaru's face and the older forces his gaze up to meet the bright blue eyes of his soulmate. "You've always looked so pretty…"

A ragged laugh followed by ice-cold fingers tugging his head down, Naruto closed his eyes tightly as he gently rested his forehead against the snake's. "Kill me too," he breathed, the words falling from his lips before he could stop them. "I can't handle the thought of having killed the only person I'm perfect with." Orochimaru made a noise of objection before his shaky breathing slowed to a stop and his hand dropped from Naruto's cheek.

Now it was his turn to let out a laugh – as emotionless as it was – while dropping Kusanagi in favor of having both of his hands free to hold the quickly cooling body of his soulmate to his chest. The looming storm grumbled before finally breaking loose, causing the blond to shrug out of his jacket and drape it over both of their heads. "You're the one I hoped would be my soulmate," he confessed to deaf ears, his throat tightening painfully. "I always thought you were beautiful. Strong, confident, smart. I never cared about the differences between us. I never cared about what you wanted to do to Sasuke. I wanted it to be _me_ who you wanted. I never wanted Sasuke around you, you were mine dammit."

As if guided by a string, a singular tear dropped from his eyes, landed on the pale other's face and trailed down Orochimaru's cheek as though it had belonged to the snake in the first place.

"Naruto!"

At the call of his name, Naruto pulled the jacket off his head and draped it over Orochimaru's torso like a blanket. Jiraiya, Tsunade, Sakura, Sai, Kakashi, Yamato and Sasuke all stopped at the sight of the blond's tears, and then more so when they spotted the snake. "Naruto-." "He deserves a burial, near his parents' graves. Under the willow, he'd like that I can tell. Granny, close the wound please… I can't bare to bury him with a hole in his chest like that." He cuts Sakura off sharply, his fingers ghosting over the fallen Sannin's eyelids to close them. Tsunade covers her mouth with a hand and instantly hides against Jiraiya, the white haired Sannin simply hugs her close as he stares at the body of his best friend.

"Sakura..?" the fox teen tried, unwilling to let the situation drop because he lost his chance at happiness dammit he's going to give Orochimaru the best. Sakura walked over slowly before dropping down on the other side of Naruto's soulmate's body, a canopy of wood appeared above them and she removed the jacket. The pinkette could literally feel the agonizing sadness that rolled off her teammate, which made her heart ache more for his loss even though this was Orochimaru that he was grieving over.

Lifting her hands, they all stood in silence for a moment before Sakura suddenly increased the amount of chakra she was using to heal the wound. "Done…" she mumbled, moving her hands away and casting her teammate a regretful look. "I'm sorry, Naruto, no one should have to go through this. I wish I got here sooner." Naruto didn't respond as he let go of the Sannin to pull his jacket onto the limp body. "You've done enough, Sakura, thank you." He returned as he looped his arms under the snake's body to support him in preparation for the travel back to Konoha.

A few years had passed, and a fully-grown Naruto lounged lazily in front of a large slab of marble with a statue next to it. "The 'S' squad have two kids now, poor Sakura giving birth then being pregnant again the next month." He mused and he could swear he could hear Orochimaru's light chuckle in his mind along with a soft urging to continue. "Shikadai, Shikamaru's and Temari's kid is a rambunctious brat even though he's only a couple months old. Lee finally moved to the Sand Village, he wanted to stay here but it's not like he could ask Gaara to leave the Sand. Granny Tsunade and Pervy Sage had twins, they even made me godfather to them. They would've made you one as well, they both said how much they regret you being gone." He pauses, smiling when he imagines the other's response of _'Tsunade probably would've made me a godmother just to spite me, I swear. What about Hinata and Tenten?'_

"Tenten's pregnant at the moment, Hinata gave birth about six months ago. Eri definitely has her uncle's favor at the moment, Neji spoils her rotten and what's worse is Kiba doesn't even try and stop him. If people aren't careful we'll have another bad gambler like Granny Tsunade!" he laughed heartily, and maybe he was losing his mind but he could've sworn he saw Orochimaru's statue smile briefly. "Kakashi-sensei and Yamato adopted a kid, and I swear he's as much of a genius as you are. I'll be testing him tomorrow, as well as two others. Kakashi-sensei is getting ready to pass the Hokage seat over, I won't be taking it. You used to want to be Hokage, didn't you? I can't explain it, but it feels wrong to try and be the Hokage now. Shikamaru will be a good Hokage." He admits, sitting up straight before standing and gently brushing his hand down the statue's cheek.

The marble cut out of the snake Sannin glowed slightly in the setting sun and Naruto forced a pained smile. "Granny Tsunade warned me that if I die before her, she'll Edo Tensei me simply so she could kill me herself, how about that?" he laughed before sighing and letting his hand drop back to his side. "I'll be back tomorrow at the same time, it's getting late. I can't say how I know this… but I know it won't be long until we see each other again. Goodnight, Orochimaru." With that the blond turns and begins to walk away, ignoring Kurama complaining about how _long_ they'd been there.

" _Naruto,"_ Kurama says and the man rolls his eyes. "What?" he mumbles in irritation, pausing to place the flowers he brought on the grave of Orochimaru's parents before continuing in the direction of his small apartment. _"You better not pull anything stupid while I'm still here, you hear me?"_ the fox demon stated irritably and Naruto lets out a groan. "I won't. Besides… I think it's about time we find you a new Jinchuriki, Kurama. Your chakra is getting to be too much for me to handle, I think you'd get along just fine with Isamu."

Naruto could literally hear Kurama blink in disbelief. _"What are you getting at brat? Your body handles my chakra just fine, what are you planning?"_ the demon snarls and the blond huffs in irritation. "I'm sick of you complaining every time I think about Orochimaru! And I can't explain it but I just feel like I'm going to _die_ soon some how, some way. Just drop it, I'll talk to Kakashi-sensei tomorrow." With that, he turns around to cast a glance back at his soulmate's grave before smiling as he sees the ever-present faint glowing form of the Sannin's spirit. _'Naruto. Take care.'_


	2. Chapter 2

_Post-drabble 2_

* * *

"Can't you do _anything_?" Neji demands, his hands still pressed firmly to the weeping wound in Naruto's chest as Naruto struggles to stay conscious. Sakura looks like she's about to keel over herself, her body shaking as Sasuke and Sai support her between them, Naruto would never be able to bring himself to force her to do anything when she was so clearly low on chakra.

"We don't know where Tsunade is, or any other medic for that matter. Sakura will kill herself if she uses any more chakra, so there's not much we can do!" snaps Kakashi – sharp and highly annoyed – as he cautiously moves Neji's hands to press his shirt against the wound. "My medical ninjutsu isn't anywhere strong enough to close this, we're lucky I even managed to stop most of the bleeding with it." Naruto looks up at his sensei, forcing himself to smile and he would laugh at the face that gets in response if it wouldn't have hurt so much. Whining from where he was supporting Naruto's upper body, Akamaru nudges the blond's arm with his nose until Kiba and Shikamaru drop into the clearing – both grim faced and exhausted.

Kiba – naturally – drops between Neji and Akamaru, placing one hand on his ninken's head and the other on his husband's shoulder as he looks between the current and previous Hokage. Shikamaru waves his hand slightly, rubbing his eyes as he slumps down on a fallen log and grimacing as Temari moves to his side. "It's not safe to move," Kiba announces flatly, the downwards curve of his lips just emphasizing the worried tone in his voice as he looks down at Naruto. "There's still too many-. Naruto, stay with us." Jumping as Kiba's hand clamps on his shoulder hard enough to bruise, Naruto blinks rapidly before wheezing out a very painful laugh.

"Not sure I can guarantee that," he croaks even as a horrified noise comes from the group of huddled genin a few feet to his left. Shikadai and Isamu move closer just enough for it to be noticeable before stopping as Kakashi shoots them a stern glare, Eri nearly whimpers as she looks at Naruto with teary eyes. Sarada makes a furious noise that she most definitely learned from her mother and she levels a stern finger at the blond.

"Don't die on us, Naruto-sensei, we're so close to winning!"

Naruto drops his head back against Akamaru's flank, closing his eyes and willing the world to stop spinning even as Shikamaru and Kakashi start trying to form a plan.

"Naruto,"

That voice is familiar, Naruto thinks vaguely – keeping his eyes shut to enjoy the warm sunlight.

"Naruto, open your eyes." the voice comes again, firmer this time and he slowly does as he is bidden blinking to let his eyes adjust to the bright afternoon sun. Something in the back of his mind tells him this is wrong, this isn't what he'd seen just seconds ago, but a face is grinning down at him and his heart trips into double-time. He shoots upright, hands already grabbing and Kushina gives a bright laugh as she takes his hands and allows him to drag her down with Minato smiling as he walks over. Naruto all but crushes his mother in his arms, laughter bubbling from his lips as he shoots to his feet – dragging Kushina with him though she doesn't seem to mind – in a perfect opportunity to snag his father in the hug as well.

Both of his parents murmur soft welcomes and happy greetings as two sets of soft footsteps approach from the same direction Minato had come. Naruto spares a glance up to blink at the two people there – a man and a woman, both surprisingly pretty and looking happy to see him. Kushina is the one to break the hug, stepping to the side to wave a hand at him and saying, "This is Naruto, Slinky never really gave you a face to the name, did he?" The woman giggles, nodding as the man moves to stand beside Minato while she takes Naruto's hands in hers with a perfectly warm whisper of gratitude.

"Um," he hesitates just long enough to glance between the four. "What are you thanking me for?"

This gets them all to laugh and Minato pats Naruto's shoulder – reassuring that he would understand soon – as the unnamed man and woman share a glance before smiling and offering a wave of farewell as they meandered away hand-in-hand. As the pair are just barely out of earshot he turns to his parents with a tilt of his head, mind already producing a million questions though he knew he could only speak so quickly, that being said the first thing out of his mouth is, "Who brought you guys back?"

* * *

Dying had been… unexpected. Unexpected, unpleasant and the child in him insisted it was a little unfair. He had just found his soulmate – through the most common way of finding them which of course was being _killed_ by his soulmate – and then woken in a clearing to find familiar faces long lost to him. Time was blurred here is one of the many things Orochimaru had been able to figure out about this place, and so he couldn't exactly tell how long he has been dead. Mere hours or decades and he had yet to find a way to tell for sure even if he had been given a rough answer when he had joined in to meet Jiraiya.

"Anko had corrupted her," Jiraiya whines and Orochimaru was already seriously contemplating if he could kill the toad sage even if they were already both dead. "She could've chosen slugs like her mother or taken after me and gone for toads, but Anko convinced her to choose a contract with your _snakes_!"

Dragging his gaze down from the clouds, Orochimaru raises an eyebrow at his teammate. "Are you saying my snakes are a bad choice in contract?" he says in a perfectly disinterested tone and forces down his vicious grin of victory when Jiraiya shrinks away, trying to offer up some excuse or reasoning that the older Sannin decides not to listen to and instead returns to his cloud watching. An explosion makes the ground shudder and in the distance he can hear someone shouting – likely Obito trying to placate his hot-headed soulmate – even as a laugh sounds from somewhere closer – awkward and wary. "No Deidara isn't going to waste his time coming all the way over here in an attempt to blow you up, Jiraiya." Orochimaru sighs because there hasn't been a single time so far that Jiraiya hasn't come to him in fear of Deidara's volatile temper and tendency to take his anger out on the perverted Sannin.

"Okay for once that isn't what I was going to say," Jiraiya sounds genuinely offended and the snake summoner simply rolls his eyes, but doesn't do anything else as someone approaches. "Well, kid, it's been a month or two if I'm not mistaken."

That definitely gets his attention enough to drop his gaze, eyes blowing wide as the white-haired man catches a significantly smaller blond in a hug. There's a huff – choked but amused – and Orochimaru stares back as Naruto switches his attention to him, they stay like that even as Kushina ushers Minato and Jiraiya away. It's Naruto who breaks it by walking to Orochimaru's side and sitting next to him on the grass, tipping his head back to stare at the sky, asking, "Cloud watching?"

Instead of speaking, the dark-haired shinobi makes a noise of agreement as he follows the blond's example – and he definitely doesn't glance at Naruto a few times out of the corner of his eye – leaning back against his arms faintly. Orochimaru hasn't had a silence fall so comfortably in a very long time, but it doesn't last long as the other man leans to the side enough to tap their shoulders together. "Yes?" he ventures when nothing else follows and blue-eyes are turned on him, so warm it takes him completely off-guard.

"Twenty years kinda made me forget how pretty you were," Naruto says, laying his hand atop of Orochimaru's and giving it a light squeeze. "My memory really didn't do you any justice, y'know?"

Orochimaru was used to getting compliments – usually they were biting and weren't meant seriously, but he took them as they were out of spite – but these were different in the way that Naruto truly meant them and it was… nice. "Twenty years?" echoes the snake and Naruto nods, falling backwards to lie on the grass, stretching his arms over his head and Orochimaru can hear his back pop.

"Yeah, all it took for me to get back to ya was twenty years, an outbreak of Zetsu clones, a mini-war and my body more or less failing on me."

"Ah," he frowns a little before lying back as well, determinedly keeping his gaze upwards. "Let's not talk about that now."

Let's just enjoy this moment is what he doesn't say, but it's what Naruto seems to understand regardless as he loops his arm underneath the Sannin's neck and around his shoulders.

* * *

 _Whoops, I killed Naruto. If you're wondering, the reason why his body failed is because he was no longer the vessel for Kurama._


End file.
